Fire weather

In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, with smoke obscuring the sun in the distance, a Coulson C-130 Air Tanker turns in to make a drop on a hillside near Toro Canyon Road in Carpinteria, Calif., Monday, Dec. 11, 2017. Ash fell like snow and heavy smoke had residents gasping for air Monday as a wildfire exploded in size, becoming the fifth largest in state history. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The fifth-largest wildfire in California history expanded Tuesday, ripping through dry brush atop a coastal ridge while crews struggled to keep flames from roaring down into neighborhoods amid fears of renewed winds. Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a...

A helicopter flies over a wildfire Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, in Bonsall, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — A brush fire driven by gusty winds that have plagued Southern California all week exploded rapidly Thursday north of San Diego, destroying dozens of mobile homes in a retirement community and killing race horses at an elite training facility. The fire exceeded 6 square...

Steve Andruszkiewicz waters down his beach house as the sun is visible through thick smoke from a wildfire at Faria State Beach in Ventura, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on Southern California wildfires (all times local): 4:50 p.m. At least 20 homes have burned in a retirement community as a wildfire surges through northern San Diego County. The homes are burning in the tightly-packed Rancho Monserate Country Club community in the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire erupted in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel-Air section Wednesday as yet another part of Southern California found itself under siege from an outbreak of wind-whipped blazes that have consumed multimillion-dollar houses and tract homes alike. Hundreds of homes across the L.A...

A fan cools off during batting practice before Game 1 of baseball's World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, in Los Angeles. Baseball fans were heading to Dodger Stadium for the first game of the World Series Tuesday as temperatures in downtown Los Angeles hit a record-breaking 103 degrees by early afternoon. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern Californians are being warned of extreme fire danger as the region prepares to swelter through the third day of a heat wave. The National Weather Service says about 20 heat records were broken Tuesday, and Wednesday could see more records fall despite a slight overall...

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal is beefing up its wildfire response by hiring another 17 water-dropping aircraft after forest blazes killed more than 100 people this year. With warm, dry weather stretching into the fall, the government says it is doubling its air fleet to 35 planes and helicopters...

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — The flames that raced across California wine country left little more than smoldering ashes and eye-stinging smoke in their wake. House after house is gone, with only brick chimneys and charred laundry machines to mark sites that were once family homes. The wildfires...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Notorious winds linked to many of California's worst wildfires are known by various names — Diablo, Santa Ana and Sundowner — but all share the common trait of being able to whip a spark into a deadly inferno that seems to come out of nowhere. Here's a look at where and when...

A crew member with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) battles a brushfire on the hillside in Burbank, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017. Several hundred firefighters worked to contain a blaze that chewed through brush-covered mountains, prompting evacuation orders for more than 600 homes in Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smoke filled the sky and ash rained down across Los Angeles Sunday from a destructive wildfire that the mayor said was the largest in city history — one of several blazes that sent thousands fleeing homes across the U.S. West during a blistering holiday weekend heat wave. In...